Sierra Club of Canada v Canada (Minister of Finance) is a Supreme Court of Canada decision, which was reached in 2002. The case is also known as Atomic Energy of Canada Limited v. Sierra Club of Canada.canlii.ca: "David Suzuki Foundation v. Canada (Health), 2017 FC 625 (CanLII)", 2017-06-27
History The decision was reached after a Non-Governmental Organization (or "NGO") sought judicial review of the federal government’s decision to provide financial assistance to a Crown corporation (in this case, for the sale of nuclear reactors and construction thereof). The Crown corporation requested a confidentiality order in respect of certain documents, and the NGO contested the request.
Sierra Club test The proper analytical approach to be applied to exercise of judicial discretion where a litigant seeks confidentiality order is now known as the Sierra Club test. The deleterious effects of granting a confidentiality order include a negative effect on the open court principle were noted by Iacobucci J. but they were outweighed by the salutary effects of the grant.
See also Dagenais v Canadian Broadcasting Corp R v Mentuck
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